According to Argentine writer Jorge Luis Borges, Bioy Casares’ work “The Dream of Heroes” (1954) was the most beautiful novel in the world, another Argentine writer Juan Ignacio Boido recalled Sunday during the homage titled “The Invention of Bioy.”

At a discussion on the 1990 Cervantes Prize winner, three writers from Argentina, the guest country at this year’s FIL, spoke about Bioy’s work.

For Boido, “Bioy Casares is the best Argentine novelist. (His novels) seek to recover something that we lost, something that we know in dreams, something that we forget, something that we had.”

“Bioy had knowledge of speech, composition of space, knowledge of idiosyncrasies that perhaps followed in the footsteps of great writers from Argentina,” said Tununa Mercado, a friend of the author who died in 1999.

The homage to Pacheco, who passed away in January, was an even more emotional one as his friends, family and literary critics remembered him as an author with a profound sense of ethics.

“Pacheco not only had a sense of aesthetics but also ethics, not so much a theory of principles, but in the consistent practice of an author’s duty,” according to Mexican author Alvaro Uribe, who enjoyed a three-decade long friendship with him.

Mexican writer and journalist Cristina Pacheco, his widow, could not control her tears after listening to the words dedicated to her husband and the love shown by the general public.

Pacheco, also an essayist, translator and short story writer, is considered to be one of the most important Mexican authors of the 20th century for his extensive writings and his analysis and commitment towards the social problems in Mexico.

Besides his popularity among young readers, his works won several awards such as the Fernando Benitez Cultural Journalism Award, 1995; Queen Sofia Ibero-American Poetry Prize, 2009 and the Cervantes Prize, 2009.

The day also witnessed another homage to Nobel Prize winner Octavio Paz where Mexican journalist Enrique Krauze spoke about his political and critical facets.

In another activity, British author Ken Follett presented his latest book “Edge of Eternity” to the Mexican public and during an interaction with the people, spoke about his commitment towards quality in his works for his millions of readers around the world.

The 28th edition of the FIL began Saturday and is to present 650 writers from 22 countries in diverse cultural activities.